Cirrus@Austlit

'All hope was lost until Zoey Hennessy walked back into my world, shaking it up beyond repair when she uttered two simple words.

'He’s alive.

'She speaks of her brother, my Saint, the man who lost everything to set me free.

'I believed he was dead. I saw it with my own two eyes. But when Zoey proves he’s alive and being held captive by a monster, I know what I have to do.

'It’s time I saved him.

'The plan is dangerous, and there are no guarantees I will survive. But if this nightmare has taught me one thing, it’s that I don’t cower in fear. I am a woman hell-bent on getting back the man she loves, and nothing, no one will stand in my way.

'However, what I uncover can only be described as hell on earth. The darkness has finally won, and Saint is lost to me forever.

'Or so I thought.

'Aleksei Popov is anything but a hero, yet in this story—he’s mine. Everything I believed in is about to be turned upside down, and with freedom within my grasp, I wonder how far I will go, and who I will sacrifice in order to set myself free.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

Just as this nightmare began, I once again find myself bound, destination unknown. However, this time, my kidnapper is the man who shattered my world beyond repair.

'Aleksei Popov—Russia’s number one mobster, and the man I was sold to.

'His intentions for me are clear—submit, obey him, and call him master—but I won’t surrender. I’m not like the other girls. Whether that’s a blessing or curse, I’ve yet to decide. The problem is, my disobedience intrigues my captor all the more.

'When we arrive in Russia, the rules change.

'Saint, the man who was once a sinner, is my only salvation. What was forbidden now gives me hope that there is light in the darkness. He will risk everything to set me free.

'But behind these opulent walls, things aren’t what they seem, and when the fine line between pleasure and pain begins to blur, only one thing matters—saving my soul.

'I will lie.

'Cheat.

'Steal.

'I was once an angel, but now…I’m a fallen saint, ready to inflict my own pain and burn this hellhole to the ground.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'In the tradition of THE TATTOOIST OF AUSCHWITZ, a heartbreaking true story of love, loss and survival against all odds during the Second World war.

'Conscripted into the Polish army as Hitler’s ground and air forces are bearing down on his country, Jew Tolek Klings vows to return to his wife, Klara, and son, Juliusz. However, when the Luftwaffe’s bombs start falling and the Polish cause looks hopelessly lost, Tolek finds himself under fire from his supposed brothers in arms.  The Polish army is rife with anti-Semitism and he is relentlessly tormented. As the Germans cross the border, he is faced with a terrible dilemma: flee to protect his family – and risk being shot as a deserter – or ride out the war, hoping rumours of women and children being spared in the concentration camps are true.

'What follows is an odyssey that will take Tolek from a Hungarian internment camp, where his ability to type spares him from the frontline, on to Palestine, Beirut, Egypt, Tobruk and Italy. A broken telegram from Klara, ending with the haunting words, ‘We trouble’, pushes him to the brink.' (Publication summary)

'I was kidnapped on my honeymoon by three masked men.

'Blindfolded.

'Bound.

'Destination unknown.

'I was told to stay silent and abide by their rules. But they didn’t realize I wasn’t a victim…not anymore.

'The open sea was my backdrop for nine torturous days. During that time, glimmers of my fate were revealed by a man with the mysterious chartreuse-colored eyes. He should have scared me, but he didn’t.

'He intrigued me. And I intrigued him.

'He punished me when I didn’t listen, which was every single day. But beneath his cruelty, I sensed he was guarding a grave secret.

'I was sold.

'And in a game of poker, no less.

'My buyer? A Russian mobster who likes to collect pretty things. Now that I know the truth, I only have one choice.

'Sink or swim.

'And when one fateful night presents me the opportunity, I take it. I just never anticipated my actions would leave me shipwrecked with my kidnapper.

'He needs me alive. I want him dead.

'But as days turn into weeks, one thing becomes clear—I should hate him…but I don’t.

'My name is Willow.

'His name is Saint.

'Ironic, isn’t it? He bears a name that denotes nothing but holiness yet delivers nothing but hell. However, if this is hell on earth…God, save my soul.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Two summers, decades apart. Two women whose lives are forever entwined. And a house that holds the secrets that could free them both.

'At twenty-six, Lillian feels ancient and exhausted. Her marriage to Charles Oberon has not turned out the way she thought it would. To her it seems she is just another beautiful object captured within the walls of Cloudesley, her husband's Chilterns manor house. But, with a young step-son and a sister to care for, Lillian accepts there is no way out for her. Then Charles makes an arrangement with an enigmatic artist visiting their home and her world is turned on its head.

'Maggie Oberon ran from the hurt and resentment she caused. Half a world away, in Australia, it was easier to forget, to pretend she didn't care. But when her grandmother, Lillian, falls ill she must head back to Cloudesley. Forced to face her past, she will learn that all she thought was real, all that she held so close, was never as it seemed.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'She hears her own thick voice deep inside her ears when she says, 'I need to know where I am.' The man stands there, tall and narrow, hand still on the doorknob, surprised. He says, almost in sympathy, 'Oh, sweetie. You need to know what you are.'

'Two women awaken from a drugged sleep to find themselves imprisoned in a broken-down property in the middle of a desert. Strangers to each other, they have no idea where they are or how they came to be there with eight other girls, forced to wear strange uniforms, their heads shaved, guarded by two inept yet vicious armed jailers and a 'nurse'. The girls all have something in common, but what is it? What crime has brought them here from the city? Who is the mysterious security company responsible for this desolate place with its brutal rules, its total isolation from the contemporary world? Doing hard labour under a sweltering sun, the prisoners soon learn what links them: in each girl's past is a sexual scandal with a powerful man. They pray for rescue - but when the food starts running out it becomes clear that the jailers have also become the jailed. The girls can only rescue themselves.

'The Natural Way of Things is a gripping, starkly imaginative exploration of contemporary misogyny and corporate control, and of what it means to hunt and be hunted. Most of all, it is the story of two friends, their sisterly love and courage.

'With extraordinary echoes of The Handmaid's Tale and Lord of the Flies, The Natural Way of Things is a compulsively readable, scarifying and deeply moving contemporary novel. It confirms Charlotte Wood's position as one of our most thoughtful, provocative and fearless truth-tellers, as she unflinchingly reveals us and our world to ourselves.' (Publication summary)